Tag Archives: shortcuts

In this day and age, it’s safe to assume that most of you know a thing or to about how to use a computer, one of those things being keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts, for the uninitiated, are really handy combinations of buttons, usually two or three, that perform certain functions that would otherwise take somewhat longer to do manually with just the mouse. For example, highlighting a piece of text and pressing Control (CTRL) + C copies the text to your clipboard, and subsequently pressing CTRL + V pastes that copied text to wherever you’re entering text.

Most people tend to know copy and paste, as well as a handful of other shortcuts, but beyond them are an abundance of shortcuts that can potentially save time and make your computer-using experience that much more convenient. In this article, I’ll go over some commonly known keyboard shortcuts and several most likely not very well known ones as well.

Most of these keyboard shortcuts will be primarily on Windows, although some can also apply on Mac as well, usually substituting CTRL with the Command button.

CTRL + X – Cuts any highlighted text; as the wording suggests, instead of just copying the text, it will “cut” it and remove it from the text field. Essentially rather than copying, the text will be moved to the clipboard instead.

CTRL + Z – Undo an action. An action can be just about anything; since this is a fairly universal shortcut, an action can be what you last typed in Microsoft Word, a line/shape drawn in Photoshop, or just any “thing” previously done in an application.

CTRL + Y – Redo an action. For example, if you changed your mind about undoing the last action, you can use this shortcut to bring that back.

CTRL + A – Selects all items/text in a document or window, i.e. highlights them.

CTRL + D – Deletes the selected file and moves it to the Recycle Bin.

CTRL + R – Refreshes the active window. Generally you’ll only use this in the context of Internet browsers. Can also be done with F5.

CTRL + Right Arrow – Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.

CTRL + Left Arrow – Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.

CTRL + Down Arrow – Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph.

CTRL + Up Arrow – Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph.

Alt + Tab – Displays all open applications and while holding down Alt, by pressing Tab, will cycle through which application to switch to from left to right.

CTRL + Alt + Tab – Displays all open applications. Using the arrow keys and Enter, you can switch to another application.

CTRL + Esc – Opens the Start Menu, can also be done with Windows Key.

Shift + Any arrow key, when editing text, selects text in the direction corresponding to the arrow key. Selects text character by character.

Windows logo key ⊞ + P – When connecting your computer to a projector or second monitor, opens up a menu to select how you want Windows to be displayed on the secondary display. You can select from PC screen only (uses only the computer’s screen), Duplicate (shows what is on your computer screen on the secondary display), Extend (Extends the desktop, allowing you to move applications/windows to the secondary display, and keep content on the primary screen off the secondary display), and Second Screen Only (Only the secondary display will be used).

Windows logo key ⊞ + R – Opens the Run Dialog Box. Typing and entering in the file names for applications will open the file/application, useful for troubleshooting scenarios.

Windows logo key ⊞ + T – Cycle through open applications on the taskbar; pressing Enter will switch to the selected application.

Windows logo key ⊞ + Comma (,) – Temporarily peeks at the desktop.

Windows logo key ⊞ + Pause Break – Displays System Properties window in Control Panel. You can find useful information here about your computer such as the version of Windows you are running, general info about the hardware of the computer, etc.

Windows logo key ⊞ + Left/Right – Maximizes a window to the left or right side of the screen.

Windows logo key ⊞ + Shift + Left/Right – When you have more than one monitor, moves a window/application from one monitor to another.

Windows logo key ⊞ + Space bar – When you have more than one keyboard/input method installed (usually for typing in different languages), switches between installed input methods.

That just about covers most common keyboard shortcuts you can use on a Windows computer. The list goes on however, as there are so many more keyboard shortcuts and functions you can perform, which is even further expanded when taking into account that certain applications have their own keyboard shortcuts when those are in use.

You might end up never using half of the keyboard shortcuts on this list, much less of all keyboard shortcuts in general, favoring the good old fashioned way using the mouse and clicking, and that’s fine. The amount of time you save using a keyboard shortcut versus the clicking your way through things to perform a function is arguably negligible and most of the time is just a quality of life preference at the end of the day. But depending on how you use your computer and what kind of work you do on it, chances are picking up some of these keyboard shortcuts could save you a lot of frustration down the line.

Keyboard shortcuts can be a great way to save small bits of time and to optimize the time you do spend on the computer. In this blog article, I will talk about the top ten most useful keyboard shortcuts for mac. In the spirit of the old OS X naming scheme, the editor is adding cat pictures.

#1 Hide

Hide completely hides the program you are currently on. It doesn’t minimize it or close it, instead, it is hidden. To use hide just hit Command+H.

#2 Minimize

Minimize does what it says. It will minimize whatever program you are currently using. To use minimize hit Command+M.

#3 Spotlight

Spotlight allows you to instantly open up a search bar to check through all your files and applications, which can be extremely useful when looking for a file or application on the fly. To access spotlight hit Spacebar+Command

#4 Adjust Levels More Precisely

When you adjust volume and brightness on your mac you see 16 little rectangles that represent the brightness/volume level. You might think that there are only 16 levels of adjustability, that’s where this shortcut comes in. It allows you to get far more precise with your levels. Just hold down Option+Shift; then use the volume/brightness keys as you usually would.

#5 Switching to Last Used Program

Sometimes when multitasking it is useful to be able to switch between two applications quickly. To do so hold down Command+Tab.

#6 Switching Between Programs

Similar to #5 it can often be useful to move between programs that may not have been the last used. To do this hold down Command+Tab again, but keep holding Command down. Then use your arrow keys to move left and right

#7 Force Quit

Sometimes a program will freeze up or stop functioning and oftentimes the best way to fix it is to force quit it and then reopen it. Unfortunately sometimes the program can make it hard or impossible to do on screen, so it’s useful to know the keyboard shortcut. To force quit an application hit Option+Command+Escape. To normally quit a program, hit Command+Q.

#8 Taking a Screenshot

Taking a screenshot of your screen can often be very useful if you are having a technical problem as well as generally being a great way to show others things from your perspective. To take a Screenshot hit Command+Shift+3 or to capture only a certain area use Command+Shift+4

#9 Adding Emojis

If you ever felt like you needed more emojis this shortcut is for you. It allows you to open up the emoji window on your mac. Hold Command+Ctrl+Spacebar

#10 Open Preferences

Each Application has its own preferences that let you make the application work how you want; to access them quickly hit Command key and the , key at the same time.

If there’s one thing that almost every single student at UMass does with their computer, it’s go online and look at websites. You may be looking at websites just for homework, to check out Facebook, browse reddit or do some research for a class. No matter what you use it for, though, there’s a lot of helpful hints and useful keyboard shortcuts that can make your web browsing experience better.